First Phase Installation completed at Kibali, Ambarau, power station.

First Phase Installation completed at Kibali, Ambarau, power station.

WD Power has completed the first phase installation of two horizontal Kaplan turbines for the Kibali mine in the DRC.  These turbines with an output of 5 MW each, were designed and supplied by Hydro Power plant in France.  WD Power was contracted to perform most of the mechanical fabrication and manufacturing in South Africa.  Major castings and forgings had to be imported from Europe, to be machines in South Africa, as these could not be procured locally.  All mechanical turbine components were assembled in our Boksburg workshop, where the factory acceptance tests were performed prior to shipment to site.

The site team received handover of the civil works in June 2015 to start with the installation.  Restricted access to the building complicated the planning and execution of the works as all equipment had to be positioned inside the powerhouse before installation could start.  First phase installation consists of the turbine distributor casing and the balance of the casing components that will form the turbine shell.  Brian and his small team, on site, did an excellent job and managed to complete this installation phase inside the planned program, catching up all the lost time caused by late civil handover.

The second phase concrete can now be completed before we return to start with the second phase installation where the rotating line will be installed.